Five favorite places to eat in and nearby The Villages
 

My five favorite places to eat around our hometown are, and not necessarily in order of best or least;

Toojays. More than decent food and decent prices and wonderful service consistently.

Glenview. Pretty darn good food and nice presentation and very good service, consistently.

Oakwood Barbecue. Yummy old fashioned sides, Great barbecued ribs, always busy, relaxed and reasonable in price. (Off campus on 27/441, south of TV, between Lady Lake and Fruitland Park, not far at
all)

Cane Garden Country Club. The best burger in town. Good salads, no, Great salads. New management, but so far still great service. Always busy.

Mallory Country Club. A good menu of reasonably priced food and good service. Always busy.

Gotta add a sixth one.
Helene and Grandchildrens favorite, The Lighthouse. The fried Catfish with the slaw that has pineapple in it and the view is her favorite. We love it too.

Type us YOUR list. Now we will never get in.....;)
Don't snowbirds EVER cook at home?????

My favorite places to eat in TV are Carrabbas (for the food and service), Toojays (for the food and service), The Lighthouse (for the food, service and atmosphere), McCall's Tavern (food and service), Orange Blossom Country Club (food, service and atmosphere - Sunday brunch is de-lish) and Cattle Baron's (food, service, music and atmosphere).

You can't beat Golden Corral for the variety and casual dining.

We tried Oakwood BBQ once and were not impressed with the food. We have to give it another try. Everyone who has eaten there that we've talked to rave about the food. Neither of us were impressed. My husband does his own smoked BBQ so maybe that is why we were underwhelmed.

I also like Pasta Faire in Belleview.

bkcunningham1---- Glad to hear I'm not the only one who isn't wild about Oakwood. Everyone raves aboout it. I don't dislike it, I just wouldn't break my neck to get there.

I would have to include Thai Ruby in a list of the top 5.

Bamboo Bistro, Thai Ruby, Cane Garden (VERY close to home), Cotillion Cafe, and Bonefish. Probably just me, but TV is not known for great places to eat. Some that are OK, a few decent, but none that I would travel very far to go to. I am spoiled in Northern VA as there are so many really good places. So far I have not found what I would consider a place to go for special occasions.

I agree. Carrabbas is my favorite one that is a little more expensive.

The rest are reasonable in price and quality.

I like to cook, and some, when threatened, say it is fair to middlin' grub.

I can cook what I like, since the other two never ask for anything or say anything when I do beg for them to tell me what they want. I hope they are satisfied. I am too old to get a new job easily.

You and I must have similar tastes, though I have not eaten at Oakwood (will have to give it a try)


1. Mallory (love the atmoshere, the specials, the pizzas and the prices)

2. Cane - Similar to Mallory

3. Lopez - For a little more upscale dining

4. Bonefish

5. Toojays and Lighthouse

I like Golden Corral for Sunday brunch

Bonefish
Carrabba's
Bamboo Bistro
Ramshackles (in Leesburg)
Longhorn Steakhouses
:icon_hungry:

Forgot to mention:

Giovanti's for the greek salad

Hard to argue with your list.I'd have to find a spot for Sakurra in Colony plaza.Excellent sushi & service!!

Couldn't stop listing! Love eating out!
 

To dine: for Lunch:
Sakura RJ Gator
Bamboo Bistro Gator Dockside
Cane Garden Sweet Tomato
Thai Ruby City Fire
Glenview Athens

Chains:
Ruby Tuesday
Red Lobster

Fast:
Panda Express
5 Guys
Gandolfo's

Toojay's
Little Joey's
Olive Garden
Red Lobster
Giovanni's
Golden Corral once in a while
Ambrosia my favorite place orange/vanilla

Bone fish ..no
Oakwood ..no

And for dessert....
 

Peachwave of course!

Got to agree with you,no place that i would go for special occasions.I'm spoiled from all the great restaurants in NYC ,when i visit my kids.Plus Lexington,Louisville ,and Cincinnati all have really good places to dine that are close to home.TV has a great variety of restaurants that are very reasonably priced and decent food. I have not found a great steak in TV,but Bonefish has really good seafood.

Gracie you have wonderful tastes! I would have listed the same places!:agree:

American Legion on Rib nite

Cracker Barrel

Belleview Pizza

Pepe's Mexican restaurant (CR 40 7 miles West of Ocala)

Sweet Tomatoes

(GG's list is very good also)


.

Has anyone tried the Mission Inn in Howie in the Hills? Some neighbors just left and one of my new friends invited us to go with them. She said they offer a buffett and you must have reservations. According to my new friend, the food is superb.

When we first moved here, we went to Oakwood. Pulled pork was excellent, ribs Ok, but the chicken was terrible. Woody's in Wildwood is now our favorite. Food is very good and reasonably priced.

In a word: Krystal :shocked:

Fire suit is on - let the flame throwing begin!! :1rotfl:

Bill :wave:

1.Vic's Embers
2.Bamboo Bistro
3.Sakura
4.Ruby Thai
5.Toojays

...and I love Katie Bell's for breakfast!

I like Italian but...
 

My favorites are as follows:

Little Joeys mostly Italian
Pasta Faire Bellview
The Palm Tree Grove Mt. Dora Italian and other
Bonifay CC
Cane Garden

:bigbow:

Cane Garden---love the pan asian coconut shrimp salad
Little Joey's
Sakura
China Gormet (I think that is the name) in Colony Plaza...great egg foo jung
Sweet Tomato (cream of mushroom soup is highly addictive)

5 best in TV . . . that means I can get there by golf cart . . .

1) Lopez . . . as long as cost is not an issue
2) Bonefish
3) Thai Ruby
4) TooJays
5) Cain Garden/Mallory/Glenview/ depending on the nightly special

5 best if you drive there

1) Vic Embers . . . Leesburg
2) Harry's . . . Ocala . . best New Orleans food outside of New Orleans.
3) 110th St. Grill . . . Belleview . . . run by the same people who run Glenview
4) Longhorn
5) Horse and Hounds

I'm surprised a couple of you listed Longhorn and no one did Outback. I have preferred Outback but perhaps should give Longhorn another try?

In case you haven't seen this, here is a good website that rates all the restaurants in and around The Villages along with a description of what each one serves.

http://thevillagesgourmetclub.com/

My favorites in the Villages and surrounding area :
Cane Garden
Lopez
TooJays
Sweet Tomato
Ruby Tuesday

My wifes favorites are:
Cane Garden
TooJays
Sweet Tomato
Little Bites
Chinese restaurant at Colony Plaza

John

No one beats Lil Bites for a breakfast.:laugh:

We couldn't post more than 5 but we prefer the Eatery for breakfast which is located on Bichara Blvd. by Ace Hardware.

John

:agree: :icon_hungry::ohdear:

Yup
 

Best reliable information there is...
Great documentation...

Skip

steak
 

Ruby Tuesday has a very good steak now. Had the chefs cut sirloin 3 times and found it surprisingly good. Also love the 22 oz rib-eye at Cody's

We only do lunch so ....

Longhorn
Sonny's (1/2 chicken meal and brisket sandwich)
Oakwood (pulled pork sandwich and roast beef sandwich)
Gator Dockside
Sam St Johns

Also:
Golden Corral
TooJays
Olive Garden
Logan's in Ocala

There are others but not during the winter months. Too crowded.

We make rxtensive use of all of the coupons in the papers, the Sunday inserts and all of the online clubs that we belong to.

Favorite Places to Eat
 

The places you've all listed are great places to eat. Some of them my favorites, but I need to add one to my favorite list and that's Gandolfo's NY Deli. GREAT sandwiches and deli salads. A little more casual then Too Jays but great food.

This thread is probably passe but I just wanted to add my favorites in different catagories:
1. Toojays (general)
2. Lighthouse (when it isn't crowded in TV)
3. Palmer, then Mallory, then Bonifay (country clubs)
4. Oakwood (BBQ places)
5. Gandolfo's (deli)
6. Olive Garden, Carrabbas (Italian)
7. Red Lobster (General, Seafood)
8. Bamboo Bistro (Asian)
9. Outback (General)

So many restaurants, so little time!
 

Well that's 9 Tom, but who's counting;-)
My favourites are:
Bonefish
Nancy Lopez
Japanese Steakhouse in LSL
Panera's
Oakwood
But I'm looking forward to trying many that I've yet to experience!
Daisy:0000000000luvmyhors

We went to the Mission Inn in Howey in the Hills last night. It is absolutely one of the nicest and most delicious buffets I've ever eaten. Prime rib, clams casino, sushi bar, snow crab legs, smoked salmon...and desserts to die for. The service was superb.

Where is that bk?

5 stars for Gracie's Place...trust me!

A twist on the question
 

If you had a guest to impress with 1 meal where would you go

My top 5 are

Cane Garden

Red Sauce

Katie Belles

TooJays

Lopez

Does she accept reservations? :icon_hungry: